Friday, 24 May 2019

As you work through your long list of things to take care of before you launch your business, you’ll need a website, and of course, a domain name. Consider this your easy guide to choosing the right domain name for your business.

Why Domain Names are So Important

You may have found during your research that you could snag a free domain name (also called a URL) from sites like WordPress, Blogger, etc. But in reality, a free domain name could hurt your business more than it helps. Besides the fact that you’re essentially advertising that brand rather than your own (usually the sites are something like mybusiness.wordpress.com or mybusiness.blogspot.com), there are other reasons why buying your own URL is the right decision.

◒ They brand your business:

If possible, your domain name should either contain your business name or keywords that relate to your brand. Your domain name is like your digital calling card. When people see the URL or you tell it to them, they should get a sense of what your business does, even if they don’t know. When you see the domain name SocialMediaToday.com, you know that the site will deal with social media in some way (it’s a resource for news on the subject). And Amazon.com has become ubiquitous: no need to spell out the domain name! The branding is built in.

◒ You’ll use this URL for the foreseeable future:

Consider your domain name as a tattoo. Sure, you can get it lasered off down the road if you regret it, but it’s a lot of trouble. Once you choose your domain name, you’ll print it on business cards and any marketing collateral. You’ll work on your search engine optimization so that people can find you online. All this work would be for naught if you decided to change your URL in six months.

◒ It will make you look more professional:

It’s easy and cheap to get a free domain with someone else’s brand name in it but it may communicate that you’re not serious about your business. Buying a domain isn’t expensive, and literally takes just a few minutes. But the result is that you now look more professional, and people will be confident in spending money with you.

Now let’s look at what you need to know

How to choose your domain name

◒ Start with Your Business Name

In a perfect world, you could buy a URL with your business name, but these days, competition is fierce. Do a search for your business name to see if others are using domain names that might easily be confused with yours (you might not want to buy PoshPuppyBoutique.net since there’s already someone using PoshPuppyBoutique.com, or you might lose business to them since the site name is so similar).

If your business name is not available, look for SEO-friendly keywords that relate to what you sell, like SanDiego-Art.org. This will help you rise up search results for that keyword phrase.

◒ Make Sure It’s Pronounceable and Short

Realize that you will be speaking your domain name out loud a lot, so avoid dashes and other things that make it hard for people to find you. It’s much easier for people to process you saying that your site is Pencils.com than Pencil.Collectors_PA.com.

◒ Consider your Domain Extensions

As competition heats up for .com domain extensions, we’re starting to see some interesting ones like .art, .vip, .club. If you can find one that’s relevant to your type of business, you may be able to get the domain name you want with a different extension (and these are usually cheaper).

Know that some online forms don’t recognize these more unique extensions yet so you may have trouble filling out forms where your website or email address is required.

◒ Set Up Your Domain Email

There’s one final step once you’ve chosen your domain name: setting up your domain email. Using an email address with your domain ending is more professional than using a Gmail or Hotmail account. People expect to get emails from a brand with the domain name (sales@myretailstore.com) so your emails will make it to their inboxes, whereas a Gmail email might not (sales.myretailstore@gmail.com).

When you choose your email address, make it easy to spell. Something like firstname@website.com is easy to remember and rattle off when people ask you for your email address rather than Sales_and_marketing.retail@website.com. You can also create emails for different departments (even if you’re a one-person show), like sales@website.com or accounting@website.com. Be consistent with the email addresses for all employees, if you have a team.

Your domain name and website are your digital credentials. It’s important that you look professional and by investing a little time and money into the process of choosing your domain name and setting up your website, you can do just that. But once you do, you instantly establish credibility, and that helps get sales rolling in.

Wednesday, 22 May 2019

In today’s post we’ll go a step further and compare the infrastructure your VPS is based on viz. VPS HDD, VPS SSD and VPS Cloud. In our last article, we covered the difference between VPS HDD and VPS SSD.

In this article, we will be covering what VPS SSD and VPS Cloud are, VPS SSD vs VPS Cloud, and figure out which is the best for your website.

VPS SSD:

VPS SSD is a Virtual Private Server powered by a Solid State Drive (SSD). In this type of hosting, the hosting provider uses a physical SSD disk on their physical server. The advantage of an SSD is that there is less power drainage while at the same time website speed and performance are higher.

VPS Cloud:

In VPS Cloud, as the name suggests your server is set up over a cloud. In VPS Cloud your hosting service provider would combine the availability of VPS with the scalability offered by the cloud. The advantage of using the cloud with VPS is that your load is distributed fairly amongst the different servers which ensure you have better performance and website speed.

Pros and Cons of VPS SSD vs VPS Cloud

Pros:

Pros of VPS SSD

Pros of VPS Cloud

Powered by the efficient SSD drives

Powered by the scalable cloud architecture

SSD ensures low risk of mechanical failure as there are no moving parts

There is no mechanical failure as everything is stored over the cloud and can be
accessed even if one server is down

Here the boot time of the server is faster as compared to VPS Cloud

Even though the boot time of the server is slightly slow, VPS Cloud is instantly scalable

Comes with cPanel and is fully managed as the hosting provider

Offers Unmanaged hosting thus, you can customize it as per your own needs.

Cons:

Cons of VPS SSD

Cons of VPS Cloud

VPS SSD is costlier compared to VPS Cloud

VPS Cloud though cheaper compromises on the booting speed and time

Even though read speed is fast in VPS SSD, the write is slower

The read and write speed is comparatively slower

Even though the life of VPS SSD is longer compared to other VPS hosting plans it doesn’t give a warning signal if it is
about to fail. Hence, you can lose your data if a real-time backup isn’t enabled

Have to add, cPanel add-on and only basic support is offered

Which is best for your website?

Both VPS SSD and VPS Cloud are good when compared to the traditional/classic VPS which used HDD drive for the physical server. Moreover, they both have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages. If your website traffic increases at a faster speed then VPS Cloud is the go-to choice, however, if you are looking for more speed then VPS SSD is the go-to choice.

Monday, 20 May 2019

The internet is a vast, constantly expanding space that has room for anyone and everyone. You have small-to-medium websites with a low volume of traffic and a simple layout and you have more complex websites that do a lot more. Carving a space for yourself in this seemingly endless mass of websites can often seem intimidating, but with the right tools, you can create a spot for yourself. That’s where VPS hosting comes in.

Let us paint a picture: when you’re setting up a website, one of the main questions to ask is – what kind of server will I choose to host my website? It’s one of the most basic and vital facts: to create a website online you need to have your website files on a server. However, this can be a difficult and expensive exercise. When it comes to website hosting services, you’ll have plenty of options. We’ve listed a few below:

And many others. Each of these options caters to a different need. In this blog, we’ll be breaking down one specific type of server: VPS.

What is VPS Hosting?

To begin with, VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This is essentially a server within a server. You have one physical server, which hosts multiple virtual servers. Each of these virtual servers remains separate, giving you autonomy over the space you have rented. Each VPS runs its own operating system, regardless of the others in the same physical server. It may be hosting multiple websites, but as far as you’re concerned, it’s all yours.

How does VPS hosting work?

In a shared space, like VPS, it’s hard to imagine how multiple servers operate independently. And yet this is completely possible thanks to virtualization software, known as the hypervisor. This software segments a single physical server into multiple virtual servers and keeps each of them separated from the rest. As a result, you now have access to what is, called a Virtual Machine (VM). Each of these virtual machines runs a complete OS and is restricted to a portion of the physical server. While multiple tenants share VMs on the same server, they are restricted from interacting with each other. This allows for perfect privacy, even with multiple users.

Why not Shared or Dedicated Hosting?

As we’ve mentioned previously, you have the freedom to choose the server that suits you best. VPS has some commonalities with Shared and Dedicated hosting, and that is what sets it apart from the rest.

Shared: To begin with, both VPS and Shared Hosting host multiple tenants on a single server. However, there is one key difference: In Shared Hosting, the resources are spread equally between all users. As a result, the bandwidth for users of Shared Hosting will fluctuate based on need and you won’t be able to control the bandwidth you receive. On the other hand, VPS is a more customised option – you can select a plan and provider that gives you access to the maximum amount of RAM, server space and bandwidth. From the first step, VPS puts the reins in your hands.

Dedicated: True to its name, a dedicated server is entirely yours to utilize. This is usually an option for those with a high volume of traffic or those who choose to customise their website in a specific way. However, it’s an expensive choice that might not be right for you if you’re just starting out or if your requirements aren’t too advanced. VPS offers you the same luxury of privacy and dedicated resources with a small space to rent. It offers you one piece of the whole server which is exclusively yours.

What are the advantages of VPS?

When you’re choosing a server, there are many things to consider – chief among them is the benefits of each. Here, we’re going to tell you why you should consider VPS for your website. If you’re feeling the need for some breathing room but can’t afford a dedicated server (where 100 per cent of the servers’ resources are dedicated to your website), VPS is the perfect compromise. However, the advantages don’t end there, and we’ll tell you why:

1. Flexibility: In a shared server, you don’t have too much room to control or customise. With VPS you can choose the hardware and software configurations and run the applications you need, such as Apache, PHP and others.

2. Affordable: If you’re working with restricted budgets and high traffic, VPS will fit the bill. The hosting company can divvy up the cost of operating and maintaining the server between all tenants that are operating on a given server. This will significantly reduce your monthly rental amount.

3. Privacy: When you don’t share your OS with another, no one else has access to your stored website files.

4. Security: Compared to Shared Hosting, VPS is far more secure. Due to the fact that your server remains separate, your files will be unsullied by others’ mistakes and vice versa. Also, your resources will remain unaffected by their usage – your website will be just as accessible.

5. Root Access: Because your VPS acts as a mini-server in its own right, you’ll get root access. What is that? Root access is basically the option of modifying the software code on a device or installing another software – changes that a hosting provider wouldn’t allow normally on shared hosting. So, with the VPS, you can configure and install your own software and (as mentioned previously) run your own applications.

It comes down to basic reasons: If your business is growing and receiving more traffic, it is time to move to a more controlled setting like VPS.

VPS ensures that your website continues to run smoothly, regardless of what is happening elsewhere on the server. It also protects your data from multiple sites, giving you a secure piece of virtual real estate to build a website on.

What should you factor in before choosing VPS Hosting?

Now that you’ve decided to go ahead with VPS hosting, there’s another set of questions to answer and they all circle around the same questions; how to manage VPS Hosting? What type of hosting to choose?

1. Windows VPS Hosting or Linux VPS Hosting? Which environment to choose? What is Linux VPS Hosting? And what is Windows VPS Hosting? These questions are important when you have to use a certain application that is required by you. Applications like WordPress, Perl, Python, etc. are supported by Linux as Windows Hosting doesn’t support these. Few server-side applications that are written in .NET., ASP, ASP.NET, MySQL, PHP, etc. will require Windows Hosting whereas programming languages like MySQL and PHP are commonly used on Linux.

2. Do you have a dedicated resource – one person – to manage the server? Or would you prefer a managed hosting solution, which includes server management in the service?
Can your server grow with your needs? This question is particularly vital if your bandwidth needs to change or your business is scaling up.

4. Will you go for cloud-based data or VPS or stick to more conventional servers? Note: Cloud-based hosting is both flexible and scalable, whereas traditional servers are more limited. However, the choice remains yours.

5. Support: Even with all these factors considered and chosen, things can go awry. Therefore, you’ll need customer service, which will reduce the risk of valuable uptime, while fixing a problem.
The final factor is the price. Almost all hosting services offer storage, RAM, a specific data transfer speed, IP addresses and the link for a fixed cost. This is usually on a monthly basis. Choose a plan that fits your budget and offers you the flexibility you need.

Friday, 17 May 2019

If you are a fast-growing online business, then choosing the right hosting determines how well your huge pool of data can be stored and more importantly kept secured. VPS Hosting and Dedicated Hosting are two types of hosting that you, as an established company, can switch to.

But before we plunge into which hosting is best suited for your business and the differences between VPS vs Dedicated Hosting let us first see what each technology is:

Dedicated Hosting:

Dedicated Hosting is a physical hosting platform where your resources are dedicated solely for your website alone. Dedicated Hosting comes with certain hardware specifications depending on the type of website you have. However, Dedicated Hosting can be configured to suit your website’s business needs.

VPS Hosting:

VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting is a combination of two hosting models viz. Dedicated Hosting and Shared Hosting. VPS Hosting can be visualised as one physical server compartmentalized into several smaller servers, each having their own private space.

VPS Hosting vs Dedicated Server Hosting:

VPS Hosting

Dedicated Hosting

VPS Hosting offers easy scalability of your resources and plans depending on your traffic spike without you needing to change the service provider

Once your website has evolved and grown significantly in terms of traffic chances are you will outgrow your VPS plans. At this time, Dedicated Hosting caters to your site’s needs.

VPS Hosting can be used by small or mid-sized companies or companies which may not have very high traffic and capital.

On the other hand, typically large organisations use Dedicated Hosting as they might have voluminous data, as well as, receive a very large amount of traffic.

VPS Hosting is relatively economical and cheaper as the physical storage is shared amongst other websites hosted on the same server.

Dedicated Hosting is considered to be the most secure hosting as there is only one client on the server.

VPS Hosting is more secure compared to other shared hosting options that divide their space among multiple clients, as servers in VPS runs in an isolated environment.

Dedicated Hosting is considered to be the most secure hosting as there is only one client on the server.

Advantages of VPS Hosting

1. With VPS Hosting your server is divided into several smaller servers. These individual servers have their own resources, complete root access and SSD storage which boosts your performance tremendously.

2. Even though VPS Hosting is expensive compared to Shared Hosting it is perfect for a website that wants features of Dedicated Hosting but on a smaller scale and a cheaper rate. It is the middle ground between Shared and Dedicated Hosting.

3. With VPS Hosting even though your server space is divided you get independent resources like CPU, RAM, OS and Disk Space.

Advantages of Dedicated Hosting

1. With Dedicated Hosting, you get the entire physical server with complete root access and hence can customize your hosting plans as per your website’s needs. If you are technically sound you can choose to manage the server yourself or can go with the Managed Dedicated Hosting.

Wednesday, 15 May 2019

Behind every great website we click on or engage with, there is a server providing the resources, bandwidth and space to keep it running smoothly and efficiently. Web hosting has truly changed the way websites work – and this is especially true of Reseller Hosting, which has allowed many websites their share of valuable space online. In this article, we take it one step further to discuss, how Reseller Hosting works – especially when it comes to Linux. But first, let’s address the basics:

What is Reseller Hosting?

Say you have bought web hosting services from a parent web hosting firm, and you feel like you can rent these resources to other end users or interested parties. That’s Reseller Hosting, where you essentially resell the leased-out resources like disk space, bandwidth, RAM, CPU and make a neat profit. You will basically host third-party websites in the allocated space. So far, so good. We’ve discussed “what is Reseller Hosting” now let’s talk about the “how to start Reseller Hosting business”.

How to Start Reseller Hosting Business

Setting up a Reseller Hosting business is extremely beneficial – a physical server can host multiple reseller accounts. You will have to pay for initial costs while setting up a business, but once you get started your business will continue to grow and you can even make a healthy profit from it. So, let’s get you started.

First, choose the platform of the web server. You’ll need to dive into the mind of your customer to decide what kind of features they would like. Once you’ve determined the cost, you can buy a hosting package that fits in your budget and simultaneously serves the need of the customers you want to attract. Next, create a website that markets your Reseller Hosting business (make sure to invest time and money on this step. The website, is, after all, the face of your business).

Before you sign up customers, determine the price of the service. Do a comparative study of the market and base your price on it – you could either offer a lower price or give your customers more features than your competitors. Create plans if your customers differ in terms of requirements – you could go with the standard silver, gold and platinum packages to start with.

Once you have a set of customers, distribute the package amongst them, based on their requirements. Set up a payment plan and make sure your customers adhere to it.

A great way to ensure customer loyalty is to make sure you provide steady customer support. This will let your customer know that your business is more than just monthly payments. Providing them with the support they need will ensure long-term relationships with them, which will only help your business grow. You can check out a few more pointers and the checklist in this blog here.

Linux Reseller Hosting

We may be stating the obvious here, but web hosting is a dynamic and varied field – you have different choices for different requirements. In the reseller category, there are 2 popular options: Linux Reseller Hosting and Windows Reseller Hosting. Though similar in many ways, they each come with distinct advantages. Each operating system guarantees fantastic uptime – meaning your website will stay online day and night. But what does Linux offer you, specifically?

First, let’s tackle the question – what is Linux Reseller Hosting? If you’re using a Reseller Hosting service, the operating system is key. This is one of the first decisions you’ll make – Windows or Linux.

Why Linux?

As we’ve mentioned earlier, the Linux OS offers optimal speed and performance. Furthermore, Linux is compatible with MySQL and PHP. Also, the hardware and software used in Linux Reseller Hosting has proven to be dependable. Sounds good? Well, it gets better. A Linux Reseller Hosting service comes with a plethora of benefits, which we’ve listed below. Take a look at how Reseller Hosting works, when it comes to Linux, and what you can get out of it.

1. Security: Stepping into the big, bad online world can open you up to a security breach. Hackers can attack your website and steal valuable data like personal and financial information. You need to understand what kind of attacks might come your way and how your hosting provider is going to combat them. The Linux reseller service offers some of the most reliable and secure defences on the market. Also, if your website uses a scripting language like PHP then Linux is ideal.

2. Customisation and Control: If you’re looking to customise your site or have admin access then Linux is the choice for you. Although both Linux and Windows offer you customization options, Linux boasts of more features. This is ideal for admins or developers who are looking for more control. For instance, a tool like cPanel, which you will get when you buy Linux Hosting, will help you manage your website. It can help with the maintenance of your site, manage disk-space and make regular backups without the assistance of a trained administrator. As a web hosting service provider, it’s a cost-effective solution!This icon-based control panel provides you with all the features you need to set up a website. It allows you to install the applications you want or the software you choose, with just a few clicks. You can manage multiple domains, create multiple databases for your website and create new email accounts for your business purposes.

3. Cost-Effective: Many entrepreneurs today are equipped with great ideas and a fiery spirit. However, the lack of capital can often sink or silence an idea. Setting up your website hosting business with Linux Reseller Hosting is a more economical option. Unlike other Operating Systems, with Linux, you won’t need a large amount of funds to set up and operate Linux. It is an open source Operating System.

4. Compatibility: The online customer is virtually drowning in the mass of websites available these days. To really register, and make a niche for yourself, you need to be varied and different. This is where applications come in. With Linux, you can use a wide variety of apps like WordPress and Joomla and boost your website with blogs, e-commerce and various other features. Thanks to its open-sourced nature, Linux allows you to install more applications and its high compatibility factor ensures that these apps will run smoothly.

5. Stability: Reseller Hosting services are popular due to the stability they provide their end customers. Linux is a top-rated operating system when it comes to stability. Because Linux is open source (the gift that keeps giving) it can adapt easily to any kind of environment and can be both developed and updated frequently.

6. Support: Web developers working with Linux get tremendous support from the global Linux community. If you’ve got a bug, or are adding new functionalities or modifying apps, you can reach out to the community for help, solutions or ideas.

7. Multitasking: Linux optimises on disk space while giving you optimum performance. This means that you can run multiple applications at the same time, without having to stop one of them.

Monday, 13 May 2019

To reduce the cost of operation, most business websites tend to start off with web hosting that is cost effective and that would be Shared Hosting. However, Shared Hosting is also limited in many ways and there may come a time when you need to consider an upgrade.

Logically, the next step up would be the type of web host which offers additional benefits that can help higher-volume websites cope with increased traffic or other requirements. VPS hosting is usually the popular option when comparing the features and price.

Before I go into greater detail about this and the benefits of VPS hosting, let’s take a look at the limitations of Shared Hosting so that we can be clear about what the key differences are as compared to VPS hosting.

The Limitations of Shared Hosting

As mentioned, Shared Hosting is usually the first step into the game and is offered by almost every web hosting provider in existence. It is the simplest of plans and basically involves a web host cramming as many websites onto a single server as they think it can support.

All of those websites have access to the same features and share the same resources, from disk space to CPU power. Think of it like living in a communal hall where everyone lives in one huge room and shares a common kitchen, washroom and other facilities.

Because of the limited features that come with Shared Hosting plans, websites that grow larger may have difficulties remaining on these plans.

The question then would be – how do you know when it is time to move?

The main types of hosting plans are shared, VPS, Cloud and Dedicated hosting in order of power (and typically, cost). Although in some ways similar in nature, VPS hosting gives you dedicated resources on one server. Cloud hosting gives your virtual space on a network of servers. There is a limit to how much you can scale up your VPS plan, but with cloud, the sky is virtually the limit – at a price.

When to Move to VPS Hosting

After considering the benefits of VPS hosting as compared to other options, below are usually the general indicators which let you know that it is time to step up to VPS hosting.

1. Your Website Traffic Increases Significantly

We’ve all been there before – your new site has just been launched and you’re eagerly monitoring your hit rates to see if people are visiting. Over time, the handful of hits a day that you first saw begin to grow and before you know it, you’re seeing hundreds or thousands of visits per day.

Each of your website visitors consumes resources and if your Shared Hosting account is using up too much of those, your web host may take action. From throttling your traffic to an outright suspension of your account, your traffic may come to an abrupt halt.

Although web hosts typically have a few Shared Hosting plans you can scale up to, there is a limit and once you hit that cap the logical choice is to move on to VPS hosting for better benefits and at affordable price.

VPS hosting also has you sharing a server with others but in a dedicated environment. This means that you will be allocated server resources specifically for your site. You won’t have to share the server resources such as CPU, RAM or any data with others.

2. You Want Greater Security

There may be times when you are looking to increase the security of your website for the benefit of your users. If you are running an e-commerce site, this might be for various reasons such as processing or storing the personal or financial information of your users.

Because VPS hosting accounts are siloed, the data you store and the process is much safer as compared to if you were to use Shared Hosting. VPS hosting also lets you install additional firewalls or lay down better security rules and restrictions.

3. Seeking Better Reliability

This again goes back to the nature of Shared Hosting versus VPS hosting. When something fails on your Shared Hosting account, typically all the sites that are being hosted on that server goes down. It’s like a really dangerous game of Russian Roulette.

By its very nature, VPS hosting is typically more robust and the environments are configured in such a way that if there is a fault in your VPS account, the management software will usually reallocate your website to another instance and rebuilds it rapidly.

The is one of the VPS hosting advantages you can get. There will be a slight downtime, but certainly not as bad as if your Shared Hosting account encounters a technical fault.

4. You Need More Control

Shared hosting accounts are usually quite limited in terms of what configuration changes you can make to the servers. Even if your web host allows the changes you need, you will normally have to contact technical support and request that the changes be made on your behalf. This can be frustrating at times and may feel overly restrictive.

Take for example if you want to install some extra tools for your website. Shared hosting won’t allow this since you don’t normally have administrative access to the server. VPS hosting lets you have full administrative access/root access irrespective of what OS your account is based on.

You can also request customized plans such as specific amounts of resources such as processor cores or memory. VPS hosting plans are typically scalable and in some instances, these resources can even be adjusted on the fly.

5. If You Run an eCommerce Site

If you are leaning towards running an online store or eCommerce site, there may be too many restrictions in Shared Hosting to meet your needs. VPS hosting offers more options that are better suited to hosting eCommerce sites simply because these sites are usually high volume and very demanding.

With VPS Hosting you will also be better equipped to meet enhanced security needs that come along with accepting online payments. Serving up pages with multiple products lists are coping with increased queries to your database are also factors to be considered for eCommerce sites.

Friday, 10 May 2019

WHM, which stands for Web Host Manager, is a tool which service providers offer, and lease, to individual clients. The same hosting provider will also handle all the server related issues, leaving you, the client, free to look after your business and to look forward to its growth.

Now that we’ve covered the basic question of what web host manager is, let’s dive a bit deeper. To understand WHM, we’ve also got to look at cPanel. cPanel is a popular, Linux-based control panel for web hosting accounts. With cPanel, you can manage all your services through one single panel. Whether that refers to creating new FTP users and email ids, monitoring the utilization of resources, installing software or creating subdomains.

WHM offers administrative access to the backend of cPanel. It also allows you a lot of flexibility and control – whether you’re managing a few, resource-intense heavy sites, or a large number of smaller websites. With WHM, you get the option of selling hosting services to clients. Furthermore, you also get to create and manage multiple cPanels.

What can WHM offer you?

With WHM, you get a suite of tools, so that you easily carry out the following:

There are two basic types of WHM. The basic WHM enables you to do all of the above. However, root WHM (also known as rWHM) has features which need root access to the servers, and as a result, you gain access to more tools.

Now, we’ve mentioned WHM and cPanel and explained the basics of both. They tend to be interchanged in people’s minds. However, there are differences between the two.

When you buy a web hosting package, you’re given a tool to manage your hosting service. Both cPanel and WHM help users manage and take charge of their web hosting. The key difference between cPanel and WHM is one we’ve mentioned earlier – WHM can have multiple cPanel accounts. However, it goes beyond that.

WHM is used primarily by a reseller to manage all the hosting accounts in each of their reseller plans. cPanel, on the other hand, is used by the customer to manage their own individual hosting accounts. While WHM provides root access to resellers, cPanel only provides access to the web hosting account to its users. The password details for your WHM and cPanel accounts are linked, that is, if you change your WHM password, your cPanel password will also change. cPanel enables its users to set the password. With WHM, you are restricted to adding domains, while cPanel makes it possible to remove add-ons and subdomains.

How to use WHM

If you are a web hosting reseller and provide web hosting as a service, then WHM will play a key role in the process. You, as a reseller, could use Web Host Manager to create a whole range of WHM packages that go from basic to advanced, to premium. The basic package might contain a smaller allocation of resources for disk space and bandwidth, while the premium packages are designed for far more resource heavy websites.

Once you’ve created a package with WHM, you can go ahead and create your account. Your new account will include:

6. For the feature list for the package, go to “Feature List” list box and select the options you want to use for the package. Alternatively, you can go with the default value.

7. Select language locale from the Locale list box.

8. The process ends when you click “Add”. WHM will then create the package

Editing the package:

1. Type package into the Search box in the upper left hand of the WHM screen and click on the option “edit a package” when it is visible

2. Choose which package you want to edit, hit the Edit option, and make the necessary changes

3. If you make a mistake you can hit the reset

4. If you make a mistake you can hit the Reset button and WHM will restore the package values to their last saved state

5. Click Save changes, once you are done with your edits

Deleting a package

1. Type package into the Search box in the upper left hand of the WHM screen and click on the option “delete a package” when it is visible

2. Select the packages you want to remove and hit Delete – WHM will delete them immediately

WHM and Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting is considered to be one of the smoothest and easiest gateways for small to medium-sized businesses to join the web hosting business. WHM is the control panel that allows Resellers the opportunity to manage their hosting company. So, if you’re looking to venture into the world of Reseller Hosting, check out our different packages on our Reseller Hosting page. We also provide free WHM and cPanel with our reseller hosting packages.

By maintaining state of the art data centres and scalable servers, we provide quick solutions for your (or your customer’s) technical problems. We offer incredible and effective domain management through WHM and a sturdy infrastructure that can handle any network interface bottleneck.

Wednesday, 8 May 2019

Go back in time and think, what it was like when you first started your business website. Most likely, you were just making your way in the business world with little or no knowledge of what was to come next.

A business like everything starts small, and in time grows with the right marketing and nurturing. Not only does your business grow in its clientele and income but also, the incoming traffic to the website. And increased traffic is directly proportional to slower website speed. However, there is a catch, the former statement is only true if your business has outgrown the hosting plan.

Like most new businesses, chances are you too must have started with hosting your business on a Shared Hosting platform. But as your business evolves so do its need and with that comes the time to switch to a different type of hosting. Out of the several hosting options available, VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting is one of the most preferred options available. The reason being, it is the perfect mix of Shared and Dedicated Hosting environment. VPS Hosting can be categorized into two main types viz. Managed and Unmanaged VPS Hosting.

In this article, my aim is to help you understand what these two types of VPS Hosting (Managed vs Unmanaged VPS) include, their advantages, differences and which should you as a business owner choose. Let us begin!

What is Managed VPS Hosting?

Managing a server requires time, effort and technical expertise. In Managed VPS Hosting, your service provider takes care of all the server related responsibilities like core updates, maintenance, software installation etc. so you, the business owner can concentrate fully on growing your business. Managed VPS Hosting in simple words, is a hands-free approach.

If you are a new business owner with little or no technical experience, then Managed VPS Hosting is your go-to hosting solution, as you need not worry about anything server related.

What is Unmanaged VPS Hosting?

As the name suggests, unlike Managed VPS Hosting in Unmanaged VPS Hosting you, the business owner, have to take care of all the server responsibilities and maintenance tasks, whereas, your hosting provider only takes care of the physical server and its availability.

If you choose to opt for Unmanaged VPS Hosting then you should have the technical expertise or dedicated in-house resources managing your server, operating system and other server related resources. Even if you are technically sound, Unmanaged VPS Hosting is better suited if you are an established business as opposed to an emerging one, because the main focus is establishing your business in the market.

Advantages of VPS Hosting

Be it Managed VPS Hosting or UnManaged VPS Hosting, the benefits are the same. Let us have a quick look at some of the top benefits:

1. Root Access:

VPS Hosting is a bridge between Shared and Dedicated Hosting and as such it includes features of both. With VPS Hosting your server is isolated from other servers in spite of being hosted on the same physical server. Hence, you have complete root access to customize and manage your server and its resources.

2. Instant Provisioning of Resources:

Server resources like CPU, RAM, OS are provisioned instantly as soon as your server is up and running. These resources can also be scaled easily depending on your incoming traffic. However, note that the resources are scalable and not the hosting plan.

3. Security:

Since VPS Hosting is isolated like that of a Dedicated Hosting, it provides top-notch security to the website hosted on it. This is true even though all websites share the same physical server, as the IP addresses are dedicated to individual servers.

4. Performance:

VPS Hosting comes with both SSD and HDD hard drive, however, most businesses these days opt for SSD VPS Hosting as its benefits outweigh that of HDD. SSD VPS Hosting improves the website loading speed which, in turn, improves the performance of the website, as well as, the Google search ranking. You can read more about the benefits here.

Core Differences

There are not many differences between Managed vs Unmanaged VPS Hosting. Let us have a look at the two most crucial ones:

Managed VPS Hosting

Unmanaged VPS Hosting

Server maintenance and upgradation are taken care of by the hosting provider.

Your hosting provider only takes care of maintaining the physical server and its guaranteed uptime.

What Should You Choose?

By now I’m sure you’ve figured out which hosting is the most suited for your business website between Managed VPS and Unmanaged VPS Hosting if you plan to switch to VPS Hosting. And just like choosing the right hosting is important so is the choice of the hosting provider. A good hosting provider can make or break your website as no matter which hosting type you choose, the availability and uptime of your website depends on the availability of the main server.

Monday, 6 May 2019

The decision to take your product or services online is a daunting task. Add the intricacies of hosting your website to it, and you have a complex problem on your hand. Everything from the hosting service to the content that will go on your site is unchartered territory for you. Each and every decision that you take during the course will have an impact on your business a few years down the line. While managed web hosting could be the best-suited solution, it is essential for you to understand the nitty-gritty of hosting solutions.

Over the years, it has become evident that a faster loading website which is secure could substantially improve your sales leads as well as customer experience. There are no doubts about the fact that virtual hosting has a wide range of benefits than Shared Hosting or even Dedicated Server Hosting. You should thoroughly contemplate future business requirements and pros & cons of using any Cloud Hosting solution before finalizing any of the services.

How Cloud Hosting Works

Cloud Hosting is a network of virtual servers that tap into underlying networks of physical servers. Theoretically, a Cloud can be considered as a network with an infinite number of machines on the network. The resources required to operate your website are spread across several servers in the network located at different data centres. So, there is no physical server or physical entity that can be termed as a Cloud.

Since the operations of your website do not depend on a particular server, there is practically no downtime. If there were a failure or overload on any server, the backup server would kick-in until the issue was resolved. This also means that scaling is extremely easy and any amount of surge in traffic will not hamper the performance of your website. This network of servers that your site uses is called Cloud.

The servers on the network are remote but still in the safety of data centres. So, there is a negligible risk of on-site security threat to the servers. Services such as Dropbox or Google Docs are common examples of cloud-based services. Google.com has hundreds of servers on cloud ensuring that there is no downtime. I mean, try to remember last time you searched something on Google.com and got a 503-error!

Why Cloud Hosting?

It is evident from what we have already discussed that Cloud Hosting offers a wide array of benefits. One of the top benefits provided by Cloud Hosting providers is stability. Apart from these, Cloud Hosting also brings incredible speeds and performance. The data required to access your website is decentralised across several servers. This leads to your users accessing your website from multiple locations rather than just the one physical server resulting in better speeds. Better speeds ensure better performance of your site both in terms of operation and customer satisfaction.

What is Managed Cloud Hosting?

Managed Cloud Hosting solutions are the next revolution in Cloud Hosting technologies. It brings not only the benefits of the Cloud Hosting solutions, but also the expertise of engineers, system administrators, and other IT experts to efficiently run your entire IT operations. Essentially, the primary difference between managed hosting and Cloud Hosting is the resources and support available to you through a Managed Services provider.

What Is Best For you?

Managed Cloud Hosting solutions are ideal for anyone who is not an expert in web development. This is because unmanaged Cloud Hosting providers such as Microsoft or Amazon can offer Cloud Hosting solutions, but the job of managing all the hardware & software along with complex applications is your responsibility. This would mean that you have to hire all the experts including but not limited to cloud infrastructure, security, development, and other specialities.

Using unmanaged Cloud Hosting will mean that you are inadvertently involved in maintenance. This tends to take away your focus from your core business as more time needs to be devoted to this. All the problems can be solved by selecting a managed Cloud Hosting service which will leave your time for what you do best – your core business.

Friday, 3 May 2019

In the late 90s, social media burst into our lives, changing the way we interact, the relationships we build and how we present ourselves. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn offered us a chance to express ourselves, and by that very virtue, collected vast amounts of data.

Not only was this data stored with these platforms, but it was also managed and analyzed to make social media more personal and more innovative.

With apps becoming more sophisticated, they require highly advanced and privately-owned tech infrastructure, which makes Private Cloud Hosting an ideal solution. First, there are some basic points to address – what is Private Cloud? What is Private Cloud Hosting and the difference between Public Cloud and Private Cloud?

What is a Private Cloud?

A Private Cloud is a computing service offered over the internet or through a private internal network. In essence, it differs from the Public Cloud, in which third-party service provider makes resources available to the public, over the internet. The Private Cloud, also known as internal Cloud or corporate Cloud, offers the same benefits of a Public Cloud, like scalability, self-service and elasticity. However, on top of these common services, you get more control and customization options, which come from the dedicated resources of a Private Cloud and an infrastructure that is hosted on the premises of the company. In a nutshell, this is a distinct and safe Cloud environment, in which only the specified client can operate.

Private Cloud Hosting vs. Public Cloud Hosting

With each passing day, the debate about the privacy of social media data is growing. Social media platforms are now exploring ways in which they can control the oceans of data coming in while keeping it secure at the same time. This is where Cloud Hosting comes in.

There are two types of Cloud Hosting – Public and Private. Before we talk about Private Cloud Hosting, let’s discuss the difference between Public Cloud and Private Cloud.

When you choose a Public Cloud, your data is stored in the Hosting providers’ data centre. In this situation, it is your provider who is responsible for managing and maintaining the data centre. While this does take a burden off companies, it also means that there is considerably less security. That’s not to say that the Public Cloud is open to breaches – all of your data remains separate from other users.

Private Cloud Hosting offers all the resources of a Public Cloud. The key difference is that it resides on the company’s intranet or data centre and all the data is protected by a firewall. Maintenance, management and analysis all take place internally, which makes it a secure but pricier option.

Why are social media platforms looking at Private Cloud Hosting?

There are many factors that go into choosing what kind of Hosting service to choose.

Given that social media platforms are so dynamic, they need a Hosting service that provides them with privacy, scalability, data recovery and more. With the Public Cloud, organisations can scale at an infinite rate, which is perfect for social media companies. Furthermore, Public Clouds also stay updated with the latest features, so companies are free from installing and updating apps.

However, with the debates about privacy raging (almost) out of control, organisations may choose to protect their data by hosting it on a private cloud. Below are some of the reasons why social media platforms are moving to Private Cloud Hosting.

1. Storage: Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have millions of visitors daily. Each day is witness to an increasing user-base, increased interactions and exchanges. This brings in massive volumes of data spread across the internet. Furthermore, content like photos and videos are heavy and require more space. If all this data isn’t managed smartly, the site speed can slow down, affecting users. Private Cloud Hosting allows social platforms to both store and distribute data efficiently and in real time, without impacting site speed.

2. Site Speed: For social media platforms, more users translate to more speed. Social media platforms need to be prepared to handle the daily load of traffic, content sharing, engagement and more. By distributing data across a virtual network of servers, Private Cloud Hosting allows social media sites the opportunity to manage and balance site speed and performance.

3. Analysis: Social media is dynamic – it is constantly changing, according to user needs, insights and preferences. Where do these changes and insights come from? – Big data analysis. Companies can access any kind of data – both structured and unstructured – easily across the Cloud network. They can then develop analytics programs to improve their performance and usage.

4. Privacy: As we’ve mentioned earlier, these social media platforms have access to incredibly personal and private data. Companies are now investing heavily in privacy and data encryption. As a result, they are now moving their data to Private Cloud Hosting, which offers greater security, is far more customisable and offers greater speed.

5. Data Recovery: With the volumes of personal user information coming in, there is always the potential risk of data loss. Storing data in one centralised location, or on a Public Cloud, can pose a risk. However, with Private Cloud Hosting, data centres are spread across different locations, making it easier to backup or recover in the case of data theft, natural disaster or technical malfunction.

6. Scalability: Social media sites are changeable – traffic can surge and drop at any point. Companies need a Hosting solution that has provisions for any scenario. Private Cloud Hosting has the capacity to scale resources, based on the situation. Companies can add storage, applications or networks when the need arises.

What We Offer

Essentially, what social media platforms need is a cloud hosting solution that will help them stay at peak performance. Furthermore, scalable and dedicated resources will ensure that these platforms are free to grow and handle more interactions, greater volumes of data and retain optimum site speed. We offer ultra-fast Cloud Hosting services, with a variety of plans to choose from. With our robust Cloud Hosting infrastructure, low-density servers and instant resource scalability, your site will continue at peak performance throughout the day.

Additionally, we provide an intuitive performance dashboard that monitors your Hosting and carries out instant upgrades to deliver the perfect website experience to your customers. We ensure that your Hosting needs grow with your needs, that your data is secure and can be seamlessly transferred in case of any complications. Finally, we ensure that you have a team of experts to help you utilize the capability of the Cloud to its full potential.

Wednesday, 1 May 2019

Migrating any of your digital apps is a challenging task considering the fact that the existence of your business may depend on them. Yet, at some point in your business cycle, you will face the conundrum whether to migrate to Cloud or continue using the current infrastructure. No doubt migrating is a complicated process, but if done correctly it has the potential to open up new opportunities. So, it is hardly surprising that an increasing number of companies are migrating their websites, data, applications, and other components to Cloud-based hosting.

What Is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration is a process where a company migrates the existing infrastructure such as data, websites, etc. from a physical server inside the organisation to a Cloud-based infrastructure. Some of the top organisations use Cloud providers such as Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. While these companies provide many applications for integration with Cloud, pricing may make it out of reach for most companies.
In this article, we will discuss how migration of your website to Cloud Hosting can impact your current SEO efforts.

Benefits of Migrating to Cloud Hosting

Migration to Cloud Hosting can have immense benefits for your business. Cloud Hosting can solve the most common problem of scaling the infrastructure as your company expands. With Cloud Hosting, adding storage space or additional processing power is only a few clicks away. This makes your business agile in responding to increased demands. Migrating to Cloud Hosting will also improve the operational efficiency of your organisation as your teams will become more productive with cloud-based solutions and apps.

Most top Cloud Hosting service providers in India offer robust security for Cloud Hosting. We give top-most priority to your security. Cloud Hosting will also allow you to undertake faster application implementation and deployment. This leads to cost saving with respect to hosting and further savings when you need to scale. If you want to understand in greater detail what is Cloud Hosting and how does it work, you can check our earlier blog here.

Problems in Cloud Hosting Migration

There are some potential risks when you are migrating to Cloud Hosting, but those could be mitigated if you follow the right procedure and take all the precautions. Here are some of the problems that are generally faced during the migration process:

1. A significant drawback in migrating to Cloud Hosting could be the storage of sensitive data and adhering to compliance requirements.

2. Deploying some of your proprietary software and applications could also be a problem due to the legal requirements.

3. One of the other major concerns businesses have while considering migration is, losing SEO that may have been developed with rigorous efforts over the years.

SEO Benefits of Cloud Hosting

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a time-consuming and a long-drawn process which can have a huge impact on your business. Optimizing your website for the search engines allows a potential customer to find your website easily. There are only a limited number of results on the first page, so companies invest a lot of resources to ensure that their website is listed on the first page. That is easier said than done as SEO is a complicated process and a whole lot of other aspects may hamper it. Let us look at some of the top hosting related problems that may hinder your SEO efforts.

1. Page Loading Speed – Loading time of your website has a huge impact on the SEO. A fast loading website will always have the edge over a site which takes longer to load. A Cloud Hosting service will allow you to ensure faster loading times. If there is a sustained traffic increase, you can efficiently allocate more resources without any problem.

2. Downtime – The downtime of your website will also affect its SEO rankings. So, if you are using a hosting provider which has frequent breakdowns leading to downtime for your website, you can bid goodbye to your SEO rankings. On the contrary, with Cloud Hosting the chances of your website being down are negligible.

3. Server location – Google and other search engines now emphasize on location-based results. This is based on the assumption that a user may find the results from its immediate vicinity more helpful. As a business, it is vital for you to take into account if the location of the server may hamper your SEO.

Protect your SEO

There is absolutely no need to be worried about your SEO while migrating to Cloud Hosting. If you follow a systematic process and opt for a reliable hosting provider, you can be rest assured that the efforts you put in developing the SEO will not go in vain. If you are a beginner, the best solution for you is to merely rehost the existing data applications on the Cloud. This does not require you to modify code or undertake any complex tasks. We provide free data migration services with our Cloud Hosting packages.

The second option is to keep your core applications unchanged and use cloud-based frameworks. This will allow your developers to take complete advantage of the cloud. The final and most complex migration process is to modify the architecture and code. This entails scrapping the original code and creating a new architecture from scratch. An alternative approach is to discard the current code and develop a new one to leverage the benefits of Cloud Hosting to the fullest.

Monday, 29 April 2019

VPS Hosting or Virtual Private Server Hosting is one of the preferred hosting options for several small-medium sized online businesses. The reason being, it is a bridge between Shared and Dedicated Hosting, offering its users the best of both worlds. If you are new and want to know more about VPS Hosting, you can read more about it. However, we assume, you all know what is VPS Hosting, and will move on to understanding the finer nuances of it, namely the kind of storage device that VPS follows.

Storage devices are categorised into two types – HDD and SSD. HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive whereas, SSD stands for Solid State Drive. In this article, we’ll cover the new and advanced form of storage – SSD and how it integrates with VPS Hosting. So, first things first!

What is SSD VPS Hosting?

SSD VPS Hosting, in simple words, can be defined as a ‘Solid State Drive VPS Hosting Plan’. Here the VPS Hosting service provider uses an SSD disk instead of the traditional Hard Disk Drive on their physical servers. The benefit of an SSD over HDD is that it consumes less power and delivers faster performance and speed. Let us see in detail, what distinguishes the two drives from one another.

Comparison between SSD and HDD

SSD

HDD

SSD or Solid State Drives draw less power and thus, boosting battery life.

HDD or Hard Disk Drives draw a lot of power thus affecting their battery.

HDD has circular platters to store data in magnetic format. However, a downside to magnetic disk storage is that magnets can erase data, hence data is vulnerable.

SSDs have hardly any moving parts. Hence they produce very little noise and vibrations.

HDDs have platters to store data, and they cause noise while moving, as well as, vibrations.

Cost wise SSDs are expensive, but they deliver high performance to the website running.

HDDs are cheaper as compared to SSD, but they compromise on the performance of the website in the longer run.

3 Major Advantages of SSD VPS Hosting:

1. SSD uses flash memory to store data. This improves the read-write speed significantly, leading to improved performance of the server, as well as, the website loading speed.

2. HDDs are more prone to damage as they use movable platters instead of flash memory. Thus, SSD’s are more reliable in terms of efficiency and durability which, in turn, builds trust and credibility for your customer.

Friday, 26 April 2019

1. What is DNS propagation?

When you update the nameservers for a domain, it may take up to 24-48 hours for the change to take effect. This period is called DNS propagation.

In other words, it is a period of time ISP (Internet service provider) nodes across the world take to update their caches with the new DNS information of your domain.

Due to DNS caches of different levels, after the nameservers change, some of your visitors might still be directed to your old server for some time, whereas others can see the website from the new server shortly after the change.

2. Why does it take up to 72 hours?

Let’s imagine you live in Bari, Italy, and you just have changed the nameservers for your domain that is hosted in Phoenix, USA.

When you open your domain in a web browser, your request is not going to the hosting server directly, it has to pass through several ISP nodes first. So your computer starts by checking local DNS cache, then the request is sent to your local Bari ISP. From there, the request goes to the upstream provider in Rome, Italy, then connects to the ISP in Hamburg, Germany. After that, the request is sent to the first receiving point in the USA – New York, NY and ultimately, to the ISP in Phoenix, AZ. Here is an example of the request trace – the number of ISP nodes and their location will vary in each particular case:

Each of the ISP nodes checks its own cache to see if it contains the DNS information of the domain. If it is not there, it looks it up and saves it in order to speed up the loading next time and to reduce the traffic.

That is why the new nameservers will not propagate immediately – ISPs have different cache refreshing intervals, so some of them will still have the old DNS information in the memory.

NOTE: to make sure it is not your computer cache that has the outdated information, we recommend clearing the cache of your browser and flushing the DNS cache after the DNS change.

3. What are the ways to pass DNS propagation?

There are three basic methods that will allow you to pass the DNS propagation.

If you HAVE NOT changed the nameservers and do not wish them to propagate for so long, there is a way to reduce the propagation time. You need to do two simple things:

1. Point your domain to the destination IP address by means of A record on the side of the current DNS provider, setting the minimal TTL ('Time to live' – propagation time) for this record, for instance, to 300 seconds (5 minutes).

2. Once A record has been updated, wait up to 30 minutes and change the nameservers for your domain.

As a result, your domain will be resolved to your previous host from the places where the propagation has not been completed yet and to a new one – from the places where it has already passed. In such a way, you may avoid a downtime as both hosts will show you the same result – your new website.

If you HAVE already changed the nameservers, Google public DNS tools may help you to see your website online. Here are the steps to be followed:

3. In addition, you can use Google Flush Cache tool and flush NS and A record for your domain name:

If you still get an outdated information on your website, you may edit the 'hosts' file on your computer, which will force the domain to resolve to the new IP address. Once the records are added, you will be able to check your website by typing its name in the browser. The major disadvantage of this method is that only you will be able to work on your website in the new location, other users might still see and use your website working from the old server.

NOTE: make sure to remove the entries added to 'hosts' file 48 hours later when the nameservers are fully propagated.

It is also possible to check your website content during the DNS propagation with the help of proxy services that will allow you to access websites anonymously.

4. How to check if DNS propagation has completed for you?

There is no definitive way to tell when propagation is complete for you as it depends on three factors: TTL, your ISP and geographical location. However, you may use online DNS checkers in order to track if the DNS record information propagated against multiple nameservers located in different parts of the world.

DNS Checker provides a free DNS lookup service for checking domain DNS records against a randomly selected list of DNS servers in different corners of the world. As a result, you will get DNS data collected from all locations confirming whether a website is completely propagated worldwide or not.

Here is the list of the most popular DNS checkers:

App Synthetic Monitor

G Suite Toolbox

There is another way to check if the DNS propagation is completed for you. You need to run one of the following commands from your PC, laptop or other device:

nslookup

traceroute

ping

What we need to know from the results is the IP address your domain is resolved to. If it's the IP address of the new server, probably, the DNS propagation is complete for you. If the IP address belongs to the old server, you need to wait for the DNS propagation to complete.

Below you can find the examples how to find this IP address.

If you are a Windows OS user, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Start button.

2. Click All Programs > Accessories > right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator:

3. In the window that opens, type one of the following commands and hit Enter:

nslookup yourdomain.com

ping yourdomain.com

tracert yourdomain.com

NOTE: yourdomain.com should be replaced with your actual domain name in question.

If you are a Mac OS user:

1. Open the Applications folder and click to open the Utilities folder.